The Cost of Rock

I’ve been doing a lot of bookkeeping lately and it’s just too joyful not to share with all of you. So in case you’re a band in Canada who wants to cross the border “by the book”, here’s what you do:

Make sure all 5 of your band members have their American Federation of Musician memberships up to date: $870

Make your P2 visa application to “work” in the US for the itinerary of performances: $320

Ensure that the paperwork gets through on time by either paying a company who does this process regularly, or paying the AFM an “expedited” fee: $1000

Rent a van capabable of taking the band and all it’s gear across: $905 (including gas)

=$3095

Now if you’re getting paid more than that for your show(s), then you’re making money! But if you’re not getting paid at all for the shows (in our case), then you’ve got to make sure you’ll recoup on merchandise. Depending on your costs and markup, you’ll probably need to spend about $2000 on merchandise to cover the above costs and the added costs of making said merchandise.

So that’s about 5 Large. Cross your fingers we don’t get turned away at the border for accidentally packing an avocado in our lunch box.

ps – anyone want to lend us their van and come along with us to PAX?

Meantime, here is a larger version of the poster for the upcoming show. I bought supplies for my new costume yesterday and it should be good!